Staying hidden in New Constantinople turned out to be a really easy task. Knowing Sera it should''ve been way harder, but as it turned out only a small portion of the city was actually occupied by citizens.
Most of the place was either abandoned or ruins. The seven of them found a large house that was very unstable to be inside, and they used the basement of this structure for the past week.
The basement was quite small, definitely not large enough for seven people, but they made do with what they had.
Hector sat in one of the corners, skulking as he usually done. Dwight and his group were laughing and drinking in the middle. They had a small table, where they could play poker and other dumb games.
Currently they waited for the Empress to come back and make her usual report. In the past week they were quite busy, and soon they would be able to make their move.
Just by thinking about it Hector''s hand trembled in rage. He would enjoy quite thoroughly when he would get his hands on that traitorous bitch!
As he was imagining his revenge, suddenly a rumble came from upstairs and soon the previously blocked off door to the basement opened.
The woman walked down the stairs, like she owned the place. She looked at the five people sitting at the table with disgust, then she went to her small cot at the side and began to undress.
She was very comfortable with her body and she didn''t seem to care as everyone stared at her. She changed out of the usual stretchy body suit and instead put on a short skirt and a t-shirt.
When she was done, she turned back to the people, with even more contempt than before.
"How was your outing? Did you learn anything new?" Asked Dwight with a small annoying smile. His face didn''t move right, because of the burn marks, it looked very unnerving in Hector''s opinion and it gave Dwight a much more terrifying aura.
The Empress leaned down to the bag she had been carrying and through its contents onto the table.
The head rolled along its length until it reached Dwight. From its eye sockets two average sized snakes slithered out. They looked at the people around, then moved back towards their mistress.
They slithered onto her arm, making sounds of love and comfort, then they moved behind her back and disappeared.
Dwight hadn''t taken his eyes off of the Empress, but he was too curious. The head in front of him was a woman''s. Her expression was one of pure terror and pain, which wasn''t surprising.
"Who is she?" Asked Hector from the corner.
"She ''was'' one of the maids working in the Phoenix''s mansion." With that the Empress moved back and lied down on her cot.
"And what did you learn from this little bird?" Asked Dwight while lifting the head by her short hair.
This was a very peculiar hotel. In the basement it had an illegal brothel, and every room was soundproofed.
The Empress used her watch to enter the room. She headed straight for the bathroom. It was covered in blood and on the floor a naked woman''s body laid. Her head was missing and her body was full of puncture wounds where her snakes burrowed inside her.
She looked at it for a moment, her face solemn... "I''m sorry for this. You probably deserved much better, but in life we have to make sacrifices... I hope you find peace somewhere..."
After whispering that to the dead maid''s body, she moved out of the bathroom and began to change her clothing. On the bed the maid''s whole outfit was placed in a neat pile.
She quickly took of her skirt and shirt, then put on the long black and white dress. She tied her hair back, and applied a lot of make-up. Looking inside the mirror her whole appearance was altered, so nearly nobody would realize who she really was.
With that done she left the hotel behind and headed towards the gigantic mansion where Sera and the others lived.
From the maid she acquired most of the building''s layout. She knew where everyone''s room was, which would prove to be really helpful.
While walking towards the house a few evolved tried to stop and ID her, but they ended up dying without even uttering a single word. She only left broken stone and dust behind.
She walked inside the building without any real issues. The Empress moved with a bit hurried steps, like she was late from somewhere. The other maids and ascended didn''t question her presence.
They took one glance at her, then moved on. It was all going perfectly, until she found herself facing Sera and Cass.
They were comfortably talking, while moving along the corridor with slow steps. The Empress took one look at them, then turned around and started walking away fast. They didn''t even notice her.
She was breathing really fast and her hands were trembling. She tried to calm down, but just by taking one glimpse at her most hated enemy, her emotions started to affect her mind.
As she basically ran away, she found herself in a predicament. She needed a place to calm down a bit, but she was currently standing in a dead-end, and behind her she heard Sera''s voice... They were heading this way too!
Without much options the Empress went inside the last room down the corridor. Just like all the other rooms, this one was huge as well, but much smaller than the others were.
It was also immaculately clean, but at the same time lived in. There were a bunch of framed pictures all over the place, but before she could look at any of them, she heard a door open.
She turned around quickly, but it wasn''t the room''s entrance. It was the bathroom door, where a middle aged woman stood. Her clothes weren''t anything special, it was a bit similar to her maid''s uniform, but in different colors.
The woman''s eyes looked the Empress up and down once, then she took a step back and summoned an ornate longsword.
"Who are you and why are you wearing Lily''s uniform?" She asked. Her whole body suggesting trouble.
The Empress quickly assessed her opponent, and determined that she wouldn''t be easy to kill, not if she fought fair at least...